New to bbt temps

Hi all! I need help. I am going to start charting and start taking my temps. When is the best time to start? today? before my period etc. what tools do i need besides the BBT therm (sp) my temps run high anyway so how would i know i am Oing? when my temp does go high should DH and i BD that moment or that day? sorry to sound so stupid but im very intimidated by all of this. We have been trying since Nov and so far nothing hopefully when i start temping i will have a better understanding of what is goin on

It's a great tool for tracking when you ovulate, but only in retrospect. It doesn't tell you that you are going to ovulate. Just that you already have. Progesterone, from the empty follicle (now a corpus luteum) will raise your temp.

What you are looking for is a biphasic pattern. A set of low, pre O temps and a second set of higher post O temps. You identify O when you've got 3 temps .2 F higher than your previous 6 temps. Remember, 3 over 6.

You can draw a coverline .1 degree over your previous 6 temps. A CL is a visual tool and not necessary to charting. It helps you identify the biphasic pattern.

Ovulation is generally the day before the temp rise, so waiting until your temp goes up would be too late. Some women do have a slight shift up, some have a dip.

Once you do have O, your temps should remain above the coverline until AF shows up or you have a BFP.

Your basal temp is of your body at rest. You need a minimum of 3 hours of sleep (5 is better). You temp first thing in the morning in the same side of your mouth daily, before getting out of bed. (if you snore, you may get better results temping vaginally)

You can start whenever, but your new cycle/chart begins when you see true red bleeding, not spotting.

Graph paper works fine for this. I know some women use the excel program. I've found PDF charts online.

A better thing to chart is your symptoms. Cervical mucus and vaginal sensations change as you near ovulation. I posted to another thread on the same topic so I won't copy it over. As you near ovulation your CM will become stretchy and slippery, and you should feel lubricative and possibly swollen. You're at your most fertile. That's when you should BD. Progesterone will also change your CM from fertile to infertile (sticky/dry) so it's another clue to identifying when you've O. Identifying O with CM, you need a 3-4 day dry up. O is usually the day of or the day after your peak symptoms.

No, you need to BD before that, if you wait until then it will be to late. You may want to use OPKs with this, OPKs will tell you you are about to O, BBT tells you, that you have.

You temp will raise .2 or more after you have O'ed. That is what the 3 or more is about. When your temps have been up for 3 or more days, that confirms O. You pre O temps will be lower then your post O temps for the most part. If you google, BBT charts you can find some great examples and galleries.

When you temp chart, you are identifying ovulation after it's happened by looking back at your previous temps.

You can get an idea each month of when you might O given the previous month's O, but you may also miss prime ttc opportunities.

My charting program had predicted O for CD 20. My predicted high fertility days were a few days before and after. But, since my symptoms started becoming more fertile earlier than usual, fingers crossed that we caught the egg. If I had waited until later in my cycle to DTD, I would have missed it totally. I Oed on CD 15. The earliest in two years.

You DTD when you have fertile symptoms. A good rule of thumb is cd 8-19 as fertile when you're starting out, if you have a normal cycle legnth of 26-32 days. It's part of the "standard days method" of fertility awareness.

Confuzeled its not that you were not clear enough! you were very clear! but the info was a little bit overwhelming to me! so much to understand.... I apreciate the information. I am going to wait till my AF shows her UGLY head this month and start my temping. Im sure i will have A LOT of questions.........